Well, it's official -- Obama has named Latina judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The controversial appeals court judge has made some pretty weird statements that ought to raise eyebrows. Consider the uproar if a white male judge made the following statement about a woman or a black:
“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” (Statement made in 2001 at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley)
She also waved her judicial activist flag in 2005 (on video) speaking to Duke University Law students saying, “court of appeals is where policy is made...." Do we really need another member of the court who makes law by finding rights in the "penumbra" of the Constitution like Harry Blackmun with Roe v. Wade? Judges are supposed to interpret the law, not make it up according to their life experiences and gender identity.
This nominee is not a serious candidate for the Supreme Court. She'll be defeated, and then the real candidate will come forward, and, Obama hopes, people will be too tired to object.
ReplyDeleteAllow a rare disagreement, since as to Sotomayor's quip, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life" -
ReplyDeletesuch is a hope, given that white males launched Roe & have sustained it ever since, to which faithful Catholics can only but heartily hold.
Meanwhile, too much to hope for, & of course couldn't be worse than the Repubs, but wouldn't it be loverly if Obama's pick brought down Roe?
Antigon
From pro-life blogs:
The only potential Supreme Court justice who may provide hope for
pro-life advocates is Sonia Sotomayor, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, has been the subject of considerable speculation because Obama is receiving pressure to appoint both a woman and Hispanic and she qualifies on both counts.
"Despite 17 years on the bench, Judge Sotomayor has never directly
decided whether a law regulating abortion was constitutional," AUL
explains.
Sotomayor participated in a decision concerning the Mexico City Policy, which President Obama recently overturned and which prohibits sending taxpayer dollars to groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations.
Writing for the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor upheld the Mexico City Policy, but AUL says the significance of the decision "may be minimal because the issue was largely controlled by the Second Circuit’s earlier opinion in a similar challenge to the policy."
AUL notes that Judge Sotomayor also upheld the pro-life policy by
rejecting claims from a pro-abortion legal group that it violated the Equal Protection Clause.
"Rejecting this new argument, Justice Sotomayor wrote that because the challenge involved neither a suspect class nor a fundamental right," AUL notes. "She then acknowledged the ability of the government to adopt
anti-abortion policies, noting, 'there can be no question that the classification survives rational basis review. The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds.'"
At the same time, Judge Sotomayor wrote an opinion overturning, in part, a district court’s grant of summary judgment against a group of pro-life protestors.
Though not concerning abortion policy directly, the case is viewed as a stand against free speech for pro-life advocates.